Frankfurters have been known and used in commerce extensively for a long time. They are a particularly popular snack food in North America. In the past, there have been numerous attempts to provide a suitable cooking appliance which will thoroughly cook a frankfurter with a minimum of time and inconvenience. Among the various frankfurter cooking devices suggested, are those of the type that pass an electrical current through the frankfurter thereby cooking the frankfurter and those of the type that employ radiant heating elements which provide heat to toast the frankfurter which is exposed to the heat from such elements. It has been found that the passing of an electrical current through the body of the frankfurter creates a dangerous and unsafe cooking device. Such a device is unsafe because if the device is turned on, without a frankfurter being placed across the two electrodes providing the electricity, then it is possible that live electrodes could become exposed thereby creating a serious health risk. This is clearly a disadvantage to this type of cooker and therefore this type of cooker is generally undersirable.
A different problem arises with respect to radiant heating or toasting frankfurter cookers. An example of a radiant heating frankfurter toaster is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,792,653 which issued on Feb. 19, 1974, for an invention entitled A TOASTER in the name of Brian Davidson. This patent discloses a toaster which simultaneously heats a bun and a frankfurter. In their uncooked state, frankfurters are generally symmetrical, elongate cylinders with rounded ends. However, under the influence of the radiant heat from the toasting elements, the frankfurters typically will bend away from the longitudinal axis. Depending upon how much heat is directed to what portions of the frankfurter, the frankfurter will bend, curl or tend to split. The distortion of the frankfurter away from a generally symmetrical shape makes it very difficult to move the frankfurter in a direction along its longiduinal axis. A significant problem with respect to the device of this prior patent is the tendency of the frankfurter to deflect and jam in a frankfurter heating chamber.